I don’t have much to comment on this article, it is every thing I would have
said – some highlights;

Renaissance has no colour, creed or ideology, add reason to logic and top it up
with broad-mindedness and pluralism and you have a sturdy drift of
'Renaissance' engulfing any region or any society. For these conditions to
exist minds need to be free from dogma and idolatry of puritan ideology. Self
righteousness is anathema of Renaissance, so is self flagellation and self
pity, nations who indulge in this are more concerned with post life than the
life here.

Renaissance is a collective effort of minds to seek freedom from dogma and seek
answers to complex questions of purpose of existence on this planet. Free
thinking, logic and rationalism have to be the foundation stone of any serious
attempt to induce renaissance in the Islamic world. Pluralism of Ideas and the
prosperity of any land are intertwined. Freedom of minds and skill of intellect
to ‘think the unthinkable’ is how humanity has progressed; when minds are
incarcerated nothing endures.

You have to read the whole article to be enlightened.. Let me define religion:

To be a Muslim is to be a peace maker; one who constantly seeks to mitigate
conflicts and nurtures goodwill for peaceful co-existence. God wants us to live
in peace and harmony with his creation; life and matter. Indeed that is the
purpose religion. Please feel free to substitute the word “Muslim” with
“Religious”.

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has adopted a new charter that
calls for a “jihad of peace” to spark off an Islamic renaissance. Muslim
country Indonesia called for an “Islamic Renaissance.” Indonesian President
Susilo Bambang was quoted as saying “The possibility of an Islamic renaissance
lies before us. We need to get our act together as an organisation of Muslim
nations.” These are virtuous and extremely timely, helpful statements cannot be
overlooked, these represents sea change of attitude and I can see beginning of
a thaw in very hardened ideological quarters. The world should try to
capitalise on these offshoots and act as catalyst to commence a debate on
change.

Renaissance has no colour, creed or ideology, add reason to logic and top it up
with broad-mindedness and pluralism and you have a sturdy drift of
'Renaissance' engulfing any region or any society. For these conditions to
exist minds need to be free from dogma and idolatry of puritan ideology. Self
righteousness is anathema of Renaissance, so is self flagellation and self
pity, nations who indulge in this are more concerned with post life than the
life here.

Describing the OIC as a “unique” institution, Yudhoyono said its influence
covered three continents. Besides, Muslim countries supplied 70 per cent of the
worlds energy requirements and 40 per cent of its raw material exports, he
added.It’s appalling statistic that with all of their oil wealth, two-thirds of
the world’s poorest people live in Muslim countries? This state of misery is
unparalleled; Islam’s inability to translate its economic prowess into general
good has baffled the intelligentsia of the world. Perhaps one can argue that
why, in the last 20 years, have over million people died in conflicts involving
intra Muslim wars? Why are democracy and the rule of law nonexistent in most
Muslim states? Why are most of the worst acts of terrorism carried out in the
name of Islam? Whenever wicked fundamentalists have taken over reins of affairs
they have gone for the jugular. Extremists have a single point agenda whereby
'worldly decadence' needs to be abolished for blessings and rewards of the
after world. None of devotion but their kind can gratify them, every strain of
deviancy over times have its own brand of virtuous approach, these anarchists
at one point have inflicted devastation on embryonic societies of Islam.

I have a suggestion for President Susilo Bambang. Renaissance cannot be tainted
with colour of ideology, it cannot be ‘Islamic or Christian,’ it is collective
effort of minds to seek freedom from dogma and seek answers to complex
questions of purpose of existence on this planet. Free thinking, logic and
rationalism have to be the foundation stone of any serious attempt to induce
renaissance in the Islamic world. Pluralism of Ideas and the prosperity of any
land are intertwined. Freedom of minds and skill of intellect to ‘think the
unthinkable’ is how humanity has progressed; when minds are incarcerated
nothing endures.

Renaissance within all three monolithic religions was built around norms of
free mind; renaissance was about literature, architecture, arts and chiseling
of marble to exquisite forms. David could only be created by the love of the
free labor of Michelangelo an enslaved mind cannot be an artist or a creator.
Enslaved man can be a revolutionary and many a enslave people have helped
changed the world but their minds were free they accepted death instead of
compromise with totalitarian or dogmatic despotism.

The first and foremost challenge nations of Islam faces is freedom of
intellectual enquiry, ability to ask the unthinkable and still be able to live
in peace within a society is the ultimate hall mark of any efforts of kindling
renaissance. "In our relations with the Western world, we are going through
difficult times," said OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, calling
for Israelis to be tried for war crimes. "Ignorance about Islam and
calculated animosity with deep historic roots on the part of a minority in the
West, as well as our failure to defend the true values of Islam, are the reason
for the increasing wave of Islamophobia." Unfortuntely, however the true
values are rarely ever discussed freely, during the glorified ‘Golden Age’
there was particularly strong tradition of rationalists, the Mutazilites. They
stressed a human being’s inherent free will countering the predestinarians, who
taught that everything was foreordained. The Mutazilites carefully cultivated
an ‘enlightened moderation’ and allowed for the growth of knowledge and in
their active promulgation and acceptance of Science as a part of the religion
doctrine they brought to the Islamic world her Golden Age.

Caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad printed by European newspapers have sparked
anger across the Muslim world. Some western human rights groups have accused
the OIC of trying to limit freedom of expression and belief. "Should
freedom of expression mean freedom to blaspheme? There is no such thing as
limitless freedom," Wade told delegates, while criticizing those who carried
out attacks in the name of Islam: "They deserve only our contempt."
The second is slightly more unacceptable, toleration of opposing critical
enquiry view into ‘theology and Holy Scriptures.’ Questioning minds should not
be burnt on stake or beheaded as blasphemous. Perhaps they should be contented
with logic and reason. The exercise of blasphemy law as a guardian of ‘truth
and enquiry’ is one of the main reason of Islamic backwardness. Sadly a fine
balance between deference and enquiry in East and West is the missing link
here. The two sides have to work on it and fine tune their ability to coexist.

This guidance to coexist was advanced by the renowned thinkers such as
Avicenna, Al-Raazi, Al Ma’ari and Omar Khayyam; each of whom would later be
remembered for the striking global contribution to the field of art, science
and logic. The decline set in when the puritan Al-Ghazali began to undermine
this rationalistic tradition and instead push for dogma over thought, obedience
over free will and the primacy of doctrine. It was the beginning of the end as
Al-Ghazali strove to put a stop to the tradition that had cultivated the
greatest of the Islamic thinkers and instead stifle the unbridled creativity of
the Islamic world.

Thus the civilization of Islam began to falter as ‘Destiny’ persevered over
reason and logic-and Lenient ecclesiastical and priestly control once again
tightened over the free Muslim people. With the will of Allah sufficing to
explain everything risk no longer matter and Muslim commerce began to dramatically
suffer. The banking and finance capitals that could have emerged in the coastal
cities and regions of Alexandria, the Yemen and Sumatra, as rivals to Europe
were stemmed in their infancy. Any belief that employs “guardians of truth’’ on
shaping of landscape of intellect will implode. It is said that ‘Crutches of
faith are introduced when reason sink exhausted.’ It is an paradox that when
curtain of dogma was descending within the Islamic lands killing free thinking
it was slowly and steadily rising in Italy and northern Europe.

Let’s start calling spade the spade, whenever, tolerance has been overtaken by
bigotry, blinkeredness and singularity; nations and empires have just withered
away. At heart of hatred, viciousness and venomous intensity lies intolerance,
bigotry and inability to ever find the enemy within. Fanaticism is an evil of a
society that corrodes the elegance of any culture. It is most amazing that most
of the Muslims like to refer to the ‘Golden age of Islam’ but refuse to appreciate
its underpinnings! Tolerant rulers –who saw knowledge without ownership of any
creed and expand knowledge to new frontiers. The lack of intellectual progress
within the Muslim world suggests something is terribly wrong, their inability
to point out their own weaknesses and look at history objectively instead of
subjectively they have not been able to learn any lessons from their past.

It is religion that teaches us the lesson of intolerance for a divergent view.
In super rich societies, dogmas like the age of our universe is 6,000 years,
the thought that we are at the heart of the universe develops an exaggerated
sense of human importance and creates most of the obstacles. In lesser educated
societies, religious hope of life after death and Puritanism inflict mayhem.
Those who want to make a mark in the next world, making this one a perfect
hell, should definitely deserve our censure. (1)

Look at ‘Taliban’ who are very ferocious in their interpretation; they are
fighting for freedom to install shariah in their lands and then export that
later to the hinterland. Their shortfalls and heavy-handed attitudes have
resulted into a backlash by the voters who rejected them in free elections.
Their preoccupation with the idea of reincarnation of the Middle Ages’ ‘medieval
Islam’ so that hands are chopped freely, women be enslaved is what actually
fuels this campaign of suicide-bombing.

It is totally wrong to quote Baghdad and Cordoba as models of successful
Islamic societies if the conditions of those model societies are today abhorred
by the main body of Islam, the tolerance required just does not exist, taking
history out of context is the biggest injustice that Muslims commit. A clerical
state would not be ever able to address the complex problems of governance the
world poses today, the separation of state from institutions of clergy is a
must for any society to develop. Poverty as a part of the Islamic society is
not by design but by efforts, over reliance of ‘will of Allah’ and lack of
freedom leads to poverty of a nation, mental as well as physical. Loyalty to
the institutions of nation beyond those demanded by the religion has torn the
mind of Muslims. Muslim should be loyal to the state where he swears an
allegiance and not to the creed he follows.

A dark age within any civilization is characterized with dogmatic extremism
that denies civil liberties, including freedom of religion and justice or the
right to a fair trial. 'Golden age' on the other hand should be about the
freedom of expression and availability of justice for the downtrodden. A
society is judged not by its standards of the richest but by the way the under
privileged and the poorest live. A minor renaissance within the regions under
the influence of Islam can be traced but the conditions that help ‘seeds of
reason’ to take roots that are essential for freethinking were just not allowed
to be nurtured.

The world cannot remain hostage to medievalists, this modern fight has to be
seen in its intellectual, historical and geographical context, the Islamic
world today is trying to reignite its lost renaissance, this is the age of
Islamic renaissance, people who are meant to cure our ills are out in the open
to slaughter and maim thousands, apparently educated are mentally demented,
this the age that was for 500 years escaped the region and hence helped
establish a void of reason and rational. Respect of life is the first sign of
an educated mind, the most important creation of providence being subject to
dynamite is a work of an evil soul, lets not mix it, any mind that plots to
maim and kill has not evolved, it has remained stuck in medieval hatreds of the
past.

The war of ideas where Islamic clergy, for its own limited interests, has tried
to introduce elements of bigotry and fanaticism in mainstream Islamic thought
is not new to Muslim societies. It has made them weak and backward and if it
continues in its most dangerous form, such a schism will fragment any country
whose only reason to exist as a nation is theological unity of belief.

Iqbal Latif writes for the Global Politician about Islam and related issues.